1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-230988 discloses a connector with a plurality of terminal fittings and a shorting terminal accommodated in a housing. The terminal fittings are shorted by the shorting terminal when the connector is not connected to a mating connector and a shorted state of the terminal fittings is released by a short releasing portion provided in the mating connector when the connector is connected properly to the mating connector.
Resilient contact pieces provided on the shorting terminal generally are held resiliently in contact with the terminal fittings to short the terminal fittings and the short releasing in the mating connector enters between specific terminal fittings and the resilient contact pieces to release the shorted state of the terminal fittings when the connector is connected properly to the mating connector.
Front parts of resilient contact pieces described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-230988 are formed into chevron shapes and have tops that function as contact portions to contact the terminal fittings. A shorting terminal is pushed into a shorting terminal accommodating chamber provided before a recess in an intermediate part of a housing and a retainer is to be mounted through the recess.
The connector described must reliably keep the terminal fittings shorted when the connector is not connected to a mating connector. Accordingly, it is considered to increase contact pressures of the resilient contact pieces with the terminal fittings by increasing resilient forces of the resilient contact pieces, thereby enhancing connection reliability. However, the resilient contact pieces of the connector contact a lower wall of a terminal accommodating portion and resiliently deflect. Thus, the contact portions slide in contact with the wall to be set in the terminal accommodating chamber when the shorting terminal is accommodated into the shorting terminal accommodating chamber. The contact portions continue to slide in contact with the wall while the resilient contact pieces are kept resiliently deflected until the shorting terminal reaches a proper position. Thus, the shorting terminal remains subject to large resistance from the start to the end of a shorting terminal accommodating operation if the resilient forces of the resilient contact pieces are increased. Therefore there is a problem of making the shorting terminal accommodating operation difficult.
The invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to provide a connector capable of facilitating a shorting terminal accommodating operation and enhancing connection reliability between a shorting terminal and terminal fittings by shortening a press-fitting distance and suppressing settling of resilient contact pieces.